On Sunday night the Sanford, Florida court responsible for hearing the case against Robert Zimmerman, the ‘neighbourhood watch’ member who shot and killed 17-year old Trayvon Martin, was dropped.
As Gary Younge wrote,
Let it be noted that on this day, Saturday 13 July 2013, it was still deemed legal in the US to chase and then shoot dead an unarmed young black man on his way home from the store because you didn’t like the look of him.
Protests broke out in Miami, LA, Oakland, DC, Chicago and New York City. In LA police responded by firing non-lethal ammunition at protestors. Some have estimated that there were tens of thousands of people marched last night.
Ryan Powell was there and has written up an account of the demonstrations.
Initially we had to push through police but it was only lightly, really we just had to tell them firmly that we were not going to stop. This was quite amazing to me, and I think every one there. I was not expecting such hands off tactics from the NYPD. We marched down side streets and onto main avenues, shutting down 3rd Ave and then 1st, then 6th as we snaked our way through the city (these are big, 6 lane, roads). The march was loud and angry, with a real spectrum of the cities population represented.
It seems incredible that a racist murder has, once again, been answered not with justice but insult. Solidarity with Trayvon’s family. No justice no peace.